In some payment technologies such as smartcard payment, a microchip referred to as a “Secure Element” (SE) is embedded into a payment card, a payment fob (medallion), a cell phone, or other mobile devices that may be used for making payments. For the purpose of simplifying language in this document, a device that houses the SE will be referred to as a “card” or “card device”. It is important to note that the “card” or “card device” may not physically resemble the shape or size of a typical payment card and may come in various form factors such as embedded into a mobile phone or embedded into a removable storage or removable device. Also, it is important to note that the SE may be an emulated software based SE and not strictly hardware based. For example, virtually any electronic device with a digital memory and processor or controller may be adapted to emulate and pretend to be an SE.
In order to extract information from the SE, an interrogator, also referred to in this document as a “reader,” is required to interact electrically with the SE. The reader typically follows standards set forth by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and by application providers (such as VISA and MASTERCARD).
Secure element systems typically require that the user have physical possession of a card that matches the authorization capabilities of a merchant's system where a purchase is made. In many instances this is inconvenient. Therefore more flexible and convenient systems and methods for authorizing financial transactions are needed.